One day last fall at Siebert Field, Brian Glowicki arrived for practice and found fellow Gophers pitcher Lucas Gilbreath recalibrating the bullpen mound, a mechanical engineering major obsessing over the angle of the front-foot landing spot.
"I look over, and he's on his hands and knees, shaving things down," Glowicki said. "I said, 'Gil, what are you doing, man?' We've got a ground crew for that.' "
Gilbreath smiled at the memory this week, as the first-place Gophers prepped for a key Big Ten showdown Friday against Nebraska.
"If I ever see anything broken or out of place, I'm always trying to do something," Gilbreath said. "I get a little picky about mounds sometimes."
The mound was the place coach John Anderson thought the Gophers might have the biggest issues after losing several top pitchers from last year's Big Ten championship team. But Gilbreath and Glowicki have stepped into bigger roles and thrived.
A junior lefthander from Westminster, Colo., Gilbreath was a set-up reliever last year. Now, he's the No. 1 starter. He'll take the mound Friday night at Siebert with a 4-0 record and a 2.28 ERA. He's holding opponents to a .174 batting average.
Glowicki, a senior righthander from Downers Grove, Ill., had a middle-relief role last season. Now he's a closer with a 0.44 ERA and a Big Ten-best 12 saves.
Their combined success has helped propel the Gophers to a 7-2 conference start, all on the road.